Code-breaker's Secret Diaries

As a child Jean-François Champollion had but one fervent wish to travel to Egypt and solve the mystery of the ancient hieroglyphs. Finally, a brief lull in the Mediterranean war against the Ottoman Sultan offered his expedition a window of a few days to disembark on 31 July 1822. Egypt proved a treacherous place, and not only because it was part of the Ottoman Empire. Champollion's secret diary entries vividly chronicle the dangers, his exhilarated enthusiasm for the subjugated country, and...